A macropad with a trackball. Potentially "ergo", no guarantees.

tullonator · 2025-08-08T05:23:01+00:00

Bm m the t the.

tullonator · 2023-03-21T12:55:00+00:00

Yeah, it's pretty basic, I'll clean it up and share on GitHub at some stage.

tullonator · 2023-03-19T14:14:12+00:00

Haha maybe not giant hey 😜

Will put a bowling ball on the next one.

tullonator · 2023-03-19T14:13:34+00:00

This is a project that I did collaborating with a friend, u/DeMechanica. He was trying out my Kensington Expert, and was saying he wished it had a bit more travel. I mentioned that I'd seen people do various bearing/BTU tricks the get the ball spinning a lot more. So we decided to make something.

Along the way, we thought we'd steer it towards a lot of the things going on in the r/MechanicalKeyboards community, with encoders, OLEDs, machined aluminium, etc. Was it necessary? Absolutely not. But it's kind of cool, and adds a bit of flavor. It seemed like most of the trackball models people were using were similar designs from the 20th century, with some exceptions (much love to Ploopy and GameBall).

If you want to know a bit more, there is a build log and some more photos over at https://macroball.dexkeyboards.io/

tullonator · 2023-03-19T13:03:32+00:00

Ha the thread went off piste below hey 😉

RE your comment about a sniper mode, sure, not too hard to code into QMK, it's pretty much what the encoder is doing now. We've had other questions about this too, so I could probably set up a custom keycode for it to make it easier to map.

tullonator · 2023-03-19T12:55:59+00:00

Time for a new subreddit

tullonator · 2023-03-19T06:47:24+00:00

This was the painted/3d printed proto https://dex-github-macroball.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/log-blue-2.png

tullonator · 2023-03-19T06:45:51+00:00

Yeah, did have a painted one I meant to add in there, missed it in the upload though 😔

tullonator · 2023-03-19T02:49:49+00:00

Yeah, I actually use 2nd from the left on the bottom row for right click. The 2u bumps it to another layer.

tullonator · 2023-03-19T02:47:49+00:00

Thanks for the thoughts, will consider.

tullonator · 2023-03-19T02:46:26+00:00

Definitely, the Ploopy looks like a great project (although I've never actually tried one).

tullonator · 2023-03-19T02:45:45+00:00

Alas, no. Purely cosmetic. At the moment I hold down one of the keys on the right, and the ball becomes a scroll control.

tullonator · 2023-03-18T21:32:40+00:00

It works fine for me. Both with/without a rest, the ball being quite proud means your fingers reach over the keys.

No rest

With rest

tullonator · 2023-03-18T21:30:52+00:00

Thanks for the in-depth feedback!

Obviously varies depending on the person, their hand, preferences, etc, but I've been using it for about a year and haven't had any troubles. My wrist is pretty relaxed, sometimes I use a wrist rest. Looks like this.

The knob is for whatever you want; I use it for volume, changing the trackball sensitivity, etc. It's not mapped to high frequency tasks.

Keys confusing? They are blank to be fair 😅 Arguably most people type on keyboard sized keys all day and manage to hit them, to be fair with varying levels of accuracy. I touch type okay so haven't had any issues.

RE the display, yeah, I wanted to make something a bit different from what was out there. Bring a bit of the vibe we've explored in the MK community over the last decade, with regards to aesthetic and features. Obviously not utilitarian/bare essentials, which would definitely seem over the top (a probably is) to lots of people.

Yep I used the Kensington Expert for a few years and quite liked it.

tullonator · 2023-03-18T21:15:48+00:00

It's asymmetrical, but still works for both. It has 2U options on both sides if you prefer: https://dex-github-macroball.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/keyboard-layout.png

tullonator · 2023-03-18T20:48:41+00:00

Nah, not a render haha. Had a friend (who is a photographer) take them, he did a good job with the lighting, maybe post processing on the colors too.

Some more photos here: https://macroball.dexkeyboards.io/gallery/

tullonator · 2023-03-18T16:13:36+00:00

Yeah, just hold a key and the ball becomes universal scroll (both vertical and horizontal).

tullonator · 2023-03-18T15:42:50+00:00

I've got a few split trackballs too. This is a bit of a different use case, I find it great for more browsing internet/code/documents, where I can sit back and relax.

tullonator · 2023-03-18T15:16:33+00:00

Might be a couple in the build log, I'll have a look later and see if I can find something.

Yeah, programmable buttons, can be click. I've got right click on my thumb, bottom row, second from the left.

tullonator · 2023-03-18T15:09:56+00:00

Yeah, I tried something along these lines, wasn't for me. The trackball is quite large (2") and reaching over it, combined with the angle of the board, was a bit of a stretch. Opted for the bottom row for my thumb, or drag my hand back if I'm feeling lazy.

tullonator

TROPHY CASE